Birthday #33

There is a lot of pressure on Mr. S to make my birthday special. I start counting down to the darn thing 3 months in advance because I love having a birthday so much. I don’t care that I am getting older, I just focus on the good part. Cake, ice cream, an excuse to not work out all week (because I need at least a week to celebrate) and fun surprises. All things I love!
I had just purchased this fun cake pan from Williams-Sonoma and my birthday was the perfect occasion to try it out. Or in this case, Mr. S was the first to try it out since the honored guest should never have to make their own cake. I think he did a wonderful job.

And what do you get the girl who has had 14 speeding tickets throughout her young driving career? A chance to go really, really fast. By pulling a few strings I was able to do some “hot laps” at Miller Motorsports. Mr. S was so excited about his gift to me he has been trying to give it to be for over a month. Unfortunately I didn’t get to drive the car, but going 115 mph in a mustang even as a passenger was pretty sweet.Though I don’t care about getting older each year, and sure don’t feel it, I did get a small reminder that I am not as young as I once was. After speeding around the racetrack a few times I did start to feel sick. Thankfully nothing came up, but maybe next year I will just have a party.

I Wish I Would Have Been Born Naked

Today is my birthday. Oh, you didn’t know? Well that’s okay because I prefer to have my birthday celebrations last the entire month. Of course celebrating on the actual day is important, but if I can drag out lunch with friends, gifts and cards arriving on various days, and dragging the love out for as long as I can, I will. So it’s not too late to send that gift, email, or Facebook post my way. I don’t mind. I can wait.

Did you know that Fred Savage, of The Wonder Years fame, and I are the exact same age? I have no idea what time he was born, so he could have me beat by a couple of hours or even minutes, but we were born the same year on the same day. It’s also Tom Hanks birthday. Be sure to send him my best. And it’s also Argentina’s Independence Day. Someday I plan to go there for my birthday and soak in the euphoria of having an entire country celebrate my birth.

Not sure how I got to be so crazy about my birthday. Most of my friends and family, including Mr. S , prefered to stop celebrating once they reached a certain age. To me, making a big deal out of a birthday is the way it was intended. It’s a way to shout say “Hey world, I was born. And you are all better off because of it!” That might be going a bit too far, but you get the idea. It’s a day to celebrate YOU. A day where you can get away with just about anything because it’s your birthday. And if you are smart like me, you will do your best to have a birthday month. Or at the very least a birthday week. I promise I will make it a big deal. Just not as big as mine.

A Bunny Found Our House

The Easter Bunny found our house…Yay! Mr. S is great to humor my love of holidays and there is no reason why we shouldn’t wake up to baskets filled with goodies too. Since I doubled as the Easter Bunny it wasn’t much of a surprise for me but it was fun to shop for baskets and put it all together. Those buckets cost me a whopping $.89 at Target.
Like most of you, Mr. S and I enjoyed spending some time with our family over the Easter weekend. Mr. S has been busy getting trained to become a motorcycle safety instructor. He had class most of the weekend so we went up to Logan after church to enjoy dinner and steal candy from my nieces and nephews. It is a great plan, they do all the work finding the eggs and we find ways to convince them to hand some of it over. I am so good with kids!

Holiday Hoopla!!

When I lived in Ogden it became a holiday tradition to do a performance, and by performance I mean lip sync, to a popular Michael McLean song. Even though that tradition ceased once my roommates and I moved from the house on 40th street, when the holidays come to an end I still “cry the day that I take the tree down.” I haven’t taken it down yet, but this weekend is the time the holiday cheer will be packed up and put away until another Christmas season is upon us. We had a memorable first Christmas as a married couple and look forward to many more.

Our festivities began with the annual Saunders’ Christmas party on the 23rd. Part of the night’s activities always includes listening to the story of the Polar Express. This year we took it one step further and trekked up to the Heber Valley Railroad and rode the Polar Express. I had high expectations since I love this story, but honestly for the money they could have done a better job. And as a co-worker of mine pointed out, “It wasn’t done by Disney, Robyn!” And she is right. It was a good time but not something I would do every year. Mr. S and I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day just the two of us. We exchanged gifts from each other and Santa, and then Mr. S made a wonderful dinner. I love having a husband that loves to cook.

We decided to take advantage of all the snow and went up to Logan the weekend after Christmas for some snowmobiling and sledding with my sister and her family. This was Mr. S’ first time on a snowmobile and I think he enjoyed himself a lot.

For New Year’s Eve we had dinner at Log Haven with our friends, Charity and Sultan. We got home just in time to count down to 2009 with Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark. All in all, a great holiday season.

Merry Elfing Christmas!!

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. If you are interested in elfing yourself, go here.  It’s too much fun!!

Baby, it’s cold outside!

It finally feels like Christmas. With 10 days to go until the big holiday, and snow finally on the ground, the festivities are in full swing!  Last night we attended the annual Zarbock Christmas open house, and once again it did NOT disappoint. Those gals really know how to put on a spread. There was eggnog, crepes, cheesecake, chocolate mousse, and fruit with fondue. But my favorite treat, making its debut this year, were the cake balls dipped in chocolate…MMMMM!! I am even planning on making them myself this week. I wish I would have taken a picture of it all because you would be jealous of the delicacies we feasted on. Also in the past week, we attended my work Christmas party at Market Street Grill and on Friday the dance studio I work at had our Christmas recital. One of my little students even brought me roses…Thanks, Krystallyn!

Goodbye, Thanksgiving…Hello, Christmas!

There is nothing like going home to the familiar tastes of the Saunders’ Thanksgiving feast. I’m sure most of you think your family feast is #1 but you would be wrong. My dad’s homemade rolls are the best and store bought pies have no place at our table. If that is the way you celebrate, I’m sorry. It’s most likely because you don’t know any better or maybe as my brother-in-law constantly reminds us, we ARE food snobs. But I have had Thanksgivings far from home before and although they are memorable (Thanksgiving duck in Taiwan, dinner in Germany at Epcot) they don’t quite measure up. One year I even had someone try to serve me corn from a can…the nerve!

Mr. S and I headed up to Cache Valley to spend the holiday with my family. After the meal and some pie it was off to the movies. I don’t know what it is about going to movies on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it has become a tradition and I love it. We saw “Four Christmases.” It was pretty good. A typical Christmas movie but who doesn’t love Vince Vaughn? We spent Friday at my sister Nikki’s house and another movie, “Australia,” followed that evening. I highly recommend this one…a western with action, romance, and Hugh Jackman’s abs can’t go wrong. The movie also included a little Judy Garland, which for me made it all the more special. I won’t tell you more than that…go out and see it yourself. Saturday included more family time and dinner with one of my dearest friends and her husband.

We got back yesterday afternoon and now I am in the process of beautifying the home for Christmas. I got the lights on the balcony up and the tree dancing with lights. The rest will have to wait until tomorrow. Mr. S doesn’t seem to get too excited about this holiday, so it has been all me doing the decorating. But he won’t be able to be married to me long before he starts to catch a little bit of Christmas cheer. If I don’t have him convinced by 2015, I may have to result to extreme measures.